Odd World

“Orange is the New Black” writer Piper Kerman has become a celebrity for getting involved in a heroin-smuggling conspiracy in her early 20s, and it turns out the guy allegedly behind that conspiracy is still at large.

The Chicago Tribune recently pointed out that the federal case involving Kerman — whose book inspired the hit Netflix show — is still wide open. That case dates back to 1994, and most of the 14 defendants were convicted long ago.

But the alleged kingpin, a man named Buruji Kashamu, has evaded U.S. authorities. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago refused to drop the indictment against him in 2011, but he’s been safe in Nigeria for years.

The Tribune notes that the case against Kashamu been particularly frustrating for prosecutors in Chicago because he was arrested in England in 1998 and held for five years. But British authorities reportedly refused to extradite him back to the U.S. after finding the eyewitness identification of him was weak. He returned to Nigeria, where he’s reportedly been active in the country’s politics.

Kerman signed a plea agreement for her relatively minor role in Kashamu’s alleged conspiracy, and she ended up serving 11 months in federal person. Her role involved transporting $50,000 in drug money from the U.S. to Europe for her girlfriend, who had a bigger role in the alleged heroin-smuggling conspiracy.

Although Kerman pleaded guilty to her crime in 1998, her ordeal was dragged out because feds wanted her to testify against Kashamu in “street clothes, not an orange jumpsuit,” Kerman wrote in Marie Claire. Thus for five years, she had to live her life with the prospect of prison hanging over her head.

It was only after Britain finally released him in 2003 that she could finally start doing her time — and getting some inspiration for her best-selling memoir.

For his part, Kashamu claims that the government is fingering the wrong guy and that he’s not in fact the drug kingpin known as “Alajj,” according to the Tribune. Alajj was, in fact, his dead brother, Kashamu says. The U.S. is still apparently trying to have Kashamu extradited from Nigeria, though.

“We’re still trying to figure out ways we can fix this for Buruji,” his Chicago lawyer, Scott Frankel, told the Tribune. “They’re trying to bring this guy back and then have a bunch of people who haven’t seen him in years testify that he’s the guy.”

The mayor of San Pedro Huamelula, Mexico, has wed a crocodile as part of a local tradition. The village believes the marriage between the mayor and the crocodile, who is considered a princess, will boost the number of fish the village catches this summer.

Members of the local council pay for the wedding festivities, which include dancing and fireworks. Everyone in the village must donate toward the wedding or risk getting fined — and the villagers see it as part of their heritage.”It’s my wish to marry the young princess,” mayor Joel Vasquez Rojas said as the pair tied the knot.

He then danced with his new wife in his arms before guests joined in.Eduardo Zarate, a local resident explained the importance of the ritual. “As young people, this means a lot,”. “It’s the greatest treasure our ancestors have left us.”

The wedding ceremony consisted of a parade through the streets and a first dance.

That’s what Esther Honig asked 40 photo editors to do — in over 25 countries. Using the service-sharing site Fiverr, Honig, a human interest reporter, sent a picture of herself to be photoshopped around the world to see just how much cultural values are applied to standards of beauty. The results throw the idea of “the perfect woman” into sharp relief.

Honig found that individuals from every country applied a distinct perspective on beauty to her image. She was surprised by the degree to which a country’s cultural values could show up as aesthetic preferences. Specifically, an image she received back from Morocco was “a bit of a shock initially.” She told The Huffington Post via email, “[It] definitely highlighted my own lack of cultural awareness. Of course, someone from a country where the primary religion is Islam might elect to add a Hijab to my image as that aligns with their own cultural customs. For me it really added depth to my project by touching on the concept of religion and custom, not just aesthetics.”

Seeing her image manipulated in so many dimensions had a profound impact on Honig’s own self-perception. “I voluntarily sought out this opportunity and was pleased with how it turned out, but it did make me more aware of certain things like the uneven tone of my skin which was touched up by nearly every editor,” she said. “I’ve watched my image subtly soften with filters and cloning brushes as well as radically transform with splicing, stretching and re-angling that completely restructured my face. Seeing some jobs for the first time have made me shriek.”

Honig is reluctant to draw a “moral of the story” from the project, which is ongoing. “Flipping through the collection of Before & After, one may spot trends in models of beauty that represent each designer’s culture of origin, but that is entirely based on ourinterpretation,” she said.

Still, the project dispels the myth of a singular beauty norm. As Honig wrote on her personal website: “Photoshop allows us to achieve our unobtainable standards of beauty, but when we compare those standards on a global scale, achieving the ideal remains all the more elusive.”

Michael Schumacher has left the intensive care ward of the French hospital, Grenoble hospital, but there are no details presently about his whereabouts.

“For the future we ask for understanding that his further rehabilitation will take place away from the public eye,” said Kehm.

Schumacher suffered severe head trauma after he fell and hit his head on a rock at a French resort in Meribel on Dec. 29. He underwent two brain surgeries, and has been in a medically induced coma for about 6 months.

Schumacher won a record seven Formula One championship and 91 races. He retired from racing in 2012.

Schumacher is also known to have endured a number of life-threatening injuries in the past.

What would you do if you had a 31-year old for a step grand dad or step great-grand dad?

Kyle Jones seems to have a thing for older women. His current catch is 91-year-old great-grandmother Marjorie McCool. Jones met Ms McCool in the bookstore where she was working and asked for her number. She had been single for 37 years after splitting with the father of her six children and agreed to go on a date.

Ms McCool said, “In the beginning I got jealous of his other women but he keeps coming back to me and tells me I’m the best. “The physical side of our relationship is wonderful. I amaze myself, he amazes me. There’s nothing better. “I wear sexy outfits to bed. I try to keep my bra on though because I don’t have much left.”

McCool, whose sons are aged 50, 52, 61, 63 and 71, said her family are not bothered about her relationship with Mr Jones as it is her “business”. In a video interview , Jones explains that he has a few girlfriends all over the age of 60, apparently he loves making out with old women for awkwardly long amounts of time in front of the camera.

Explaining why she loves the relationship, McCool also said, “Sometimes I feel like he’s another son … until we hop in bed and I feel different.” So that’s not an awkward statement at all.

A boy was furious when he discovered that his mother was having an affair with another man.

The boy of Zimbabwe, allegedly found nude photos of his mother with another man on her cell phone.

The boy then showed the photos to his father, Dumisani Ndebele. After seeing the photos, Ndebele became furious, saying that his wife had refused him sex for almost a year.

The man attacked his wife at their home in Pumula Bulawayo. He bit her on the cheeks and ripped a piece of her cheek out after he discovered the series of nude photos of her with another man having sex.

Keziya Ndebele denied the allegations that she was cheating on her husband. Instead, she said that her husband went crazy after he was served with divorce papers to end their 18 year marriage.

The woman, who appeared in front of judge Marylene Mtshina with bandages on her face, was granted an order of protection against her husband.

In March 2007, the Mexican government entered the home of Mexican drug lord, Mr. Ye Gon’s and seized hundreds of millions of dollars in cash. In an interview with the news agency AP, Mr. Ye Gon explained he agreed to keep the money in his home after his life, as well as those of his family, were threatened by members of Mexico’s PAN party.

The fortune, reportedly found by the police at the residence of a Mexican drug lord at Lomas de Chapultepec in Mexico City included the following:

Confiscated along with the money were also:
Two Mexican-style dwellings of approximately 20 million pesos
A war chest of automatic guns
1 lab in construction of unknown value
7 vehicles

Check out the photos below:

Religious-themed handguns were scattered throughout the House.

Just a quaint little villa in the hills – Drug money bought it all!

Man-made cave and hot tub inside the home.

A collection of exotic animals

8 Lions

A very rare Tiger.

The back yard pool.

Exotic art collection

This pile of cash before it was counted was estimated to be approximately 18 Billion Dollars!

Guns were hidden all over the house, along with ample ammo, just in case of trouble.

Stacks of cash were found in every nook and cranny…

18 plastic bins filled with 100 dollar bills were found…

Another cabinet stacked tight with cash – all 100′s.

More 100′s.

Each of these stacks of 100′s holds USD 250,000 (a quarter of a million US dollars)! They also had millions in Colombian money and Mexican Pesos, although they preferred American dollars for the most part.

More Gold machine guns and pistols – just held for collection value.

For the sum of £300-a-night, this plane hotel suite is perched on a purpose built ledge within the Costa Rican rainforest and offers flight fans the chance to play captain for their stay.

For a staggering £2,100 a week guests can enjoy the novelty of sleeping in the converted 1965 Boeing 727, which once carried passengers around the world with Colombian Avianca Airlines. An old jumbo jet destined for scrap was salvaged and converted into a luxury hotel suite.

The suite is part of the Costa Verde resort, which is located on the edge of the Manuel Antonia National Park, Costa Rica.

The rain forest resort charges guests the same price to sleep in the converted plane as a room at The Ritz, London.

Airplane enthusiasts can have full run of the two-bedroom, two-bathroom suite which also includes a kitchenette, flat-screen TVs, a dining room, and a terrace with a sea view.

Bathroom in the suite

There is a specially crafter observation deck, which has been built on top of the plane’s wing.

The inside of the jumbo jet is furnished with hand-carved teak panelling from the former cockpit to the tail which is all harvested locally in Costa Rica

Inside the two bedroom, two bathroom hotel suite

Exterior of the Transformed Boeing 727 plane

Think you’ve seen it all? Check out other unique architectural pieces here.

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